More people died on the roads this holiday than in 2015 and 2016, officials say

More people died on Georgia highways over the Christmas holiday period this year than in both 2015 and 2016, according to statistics compiled by the Georgia Department of Public Safety.

Over the 102-hour holiday period from late Friday, Dec. 22 to the end of Tuesday, Dec. 26, 15 people were killed by traffic accidents, with 10 investigated by state troopers and five investigated by local police agencies.

In 2016, 11 people were killed, and nine were killed in 2015, though the official holiday period was 24-hours shorter in those years than it was this year.

Georgia troopers also investigated 515 crashes over the period, which resulted in 219 injuries and 192 arrests for driving under the influence. More than 7,000 citations and more than 12,300 warnings were also issued, police said in a press release. Those numbers are also higher than last year.

Although the number of traffic fatalities over this holiday appears to have risen slightly, overall traffic deaths for the state are trending slightly down for 2017 after two years of steady rises.

Georgia highways saw 1,432 deaths in 2015 and 1,561 in 2016, but the latest public numbers show a drop to 1,481 in 2017.

This story was originally published December 27, 2017 at 1:28 PM with the headline "More people died on the roads this holiday than in 2015 and 2016, officials say."